Most likely of
Turkish origin, there is scarce information about Ibrahim Pasha's early life. However, in the 1770s and 1780s, he served as a trusted
retainer of Muhammad Taha (Mehmed Effeni Tahazade), the
naqib al-ashraf (head of the order of
Muhammad's descendants) of
Aleppo. Muhammad Taha served the office for 25 years (in 1747–1767 and 1782–1786), and was able to unify the city's
ashraf into a political and military force that confronted Aleppo's powerful
Janissary faction. Taha tasked Ibrahim Pasha (then known as "Ibrahim Agha") with collecting taxes in Aleppo's rural hinterland (Taha owned several
tax farms in this area), enabling him to accumulate significant wealth. During his career, Ibrahim Pasha commanded the armed guard of Aleppo's
Hajj pilgrim caravan, known as the
qatar, which connected with the much larger
Damascus caravan before its departure for
Mecca. He was thus given the
nisba Qataraghasi (
agha of the
qatar). Following Taha's death in 1786, Ibrahim Pasha succeeded him as the virtual leader of Aleppo's
ashraf faction, but not as
naqib al-ashraf. Between 1788 and 1798, he served as
mutasallim (chief tax collector, district governor) of Aleppo. In 1799, he served a brief assignment as
wali (governor) of
Damascus Eyalet. That year, he also led a contingent of Aleppan
ashraf forces against the
French invasion of the empire's Egyptian and Syrian lands. ==Governorship of Aleppo and Damascus==